MOST FAMOUS SEA MYSTERY.

Shannon News, 6 September 1927, Page 2

MOST FAMOUS SEA MYSTERY.

NEW SOLUTION PROPOUNDED. LONDON, August 24. Another theory has been advanced as a possible solution of the mystery of the Marie Celeste, the American brig which was found in mid-ocean in 1872, with its sails set, apparently in good order, but with the entire company missing. ■ Mr ,T. G. Lockhart, author of the book “The Great Sea Mystery,” suggests that the crew took, panic owing to a minor explosion amid the cargo of barrels of alcohol, which partially lifted the hatch and injured one of the crew, thus accounting for the bloodstains found upon it. ■ The writer, after long investigation, has come to the conclusion that the panic-stricken crew manned a yawl and pulled clear, but their ship ran away before they realised that it would not blow up. For more than half a century the mystery surrounding the fate of the crew of the Marie Celeste has completely baffled all attempts at solution. In Hie autumn of 1872, the Marie Celeste, an American brig, of about GOO tons, loft New York, with a cargo of spirits for Genoa. The ship’s company numbered 13, and included the captain’s wife and little daughter. Weeks after her departure, a British barque, the Dei Gratia, came upon the brig, under full sail, about 300 miles west of Gibraltar. Signals were hoistted, but there was no reply. Some peculiar instinct moved the British captain to investigate. As they drew nearer the British seamen could see no sign of life about her. The ship was drifting, and the sails flapped idly against the mhst. Not a sound greeted the boarding party as they clambered over the side; there was uot a soul on board. Everything on the brig appeared to be in order. In the master’s cabin the table was set for a meal, and, from the appearance of the food, four persons had risen from it with the meal half oaten.

Some years ago a London magazine printed a number of possible* ‘{solutions” of the mystery, written by wellknown writers of detective and other stories, including Sir Conan Doyle. But none of these theories, nor any other, has met all the difficulties or explained what will now probably be for ever an unexplained mystery.